One Exam at a Time: Sarah Walters’ Path to Passing the CPA Exam

For BryMar Staff Auditor Sarah Walters, accounting was not always the obvious career choice. Originally from Sacramento and someone who enjoys hiking and spending time outdoors, Sarah transferred to California State University, Monterey Bay in 2023 expecting to focus on marketing. That changed after she attended a new-student event and sat in on a presentation about environmental, social, and governance auditing. The topic showed her a side of accounting she had never really considered before. As Sarah put it, the presentation opened her eyes to the fact that accounting was not just “bookkeeping” or “checks and balances,” but an entire ecosystem of different paths. That realization sparked an interest in auditing that quickly became much more than a passing curiosity. 

That interest grew quickly. Sarah chose to double concentrate in marketing and accounting, became close with accounting professors who encouraged her to pursue the field professionally, and began attending networking events that helped confirm that accounting was where she wanted to build her career. By the time she joined BryMar as an intern, she was already serious about audit. Her experience at the firm made that direction even clearer. 

An Internship That Confirmed the Path 

Sarah’s internship at BryMar stood out because she was able to do far more than observe. She worked across many of the sections typically handled by audit staff and gained hands-on exposure to the actual audit process. For a college student still figuring out what full-time public accounting would look like, that experience gave her a realistic view of both the work and the people behind it. 

The culture mattered just as much. Sarah remembers the BryMar team as welcoming, friendly, and willing to involve her in meaningful work. Compared with other internships where she felt she did not have much to do, BryMar felt different because she was trusted with real exposure to the audit process. “Here at BryMar, you really get to be hands-on,” she said. That combination of practical learning and strong relationships helped confirm that she had chosen the right career path and that BryMar was a place where she could see herself returning after graduation. 

Before starting full time, however, Sarah had another major goal in front of her: passing the CPA Exam. 

Making the CPA Exam the Priority  

Sarah began the CPA Exam process in August 2025, after graduating and completing another internship. Rather than trying to balance full-time work with studying from the beginning, she intentionally created space to make the exams her main priority. At the time, she was working about 15 hours a week at a local nonprofit, which gave her the flexibility to dedicate a substantial portion of each day to studying. 

She also made a strategic decision about where to begin. Through accounting networking events, Sarah had heard representatives from Becker explain two common approaches: start with one of the easier sections to build momentum, or begin with FAR, Financial Accounting and Reporting, and tackle one of the most difficult sections first. Sarah chose FAR. “I just decided I wanted to get the hard one out of the way,” she said, especially because she knew she would have the most study time available for that first exam. At the time, she was working only about 15 hours a week, which gave her the space to buckle down and take on the section she expected would demand the most from her. 

That decision set the tone for the rest of her process. Sarah was not trying to move through the exams as quickly as possible at the expense of preparation. Her approach was to give each section enough attention to pass it once, then move forward. 

The Study System Behind the Success  

Sarah quickly learned that passing the exams would require structure. While preparing for FAR, she worked from 8:00 to 11:00 in the morning and then spent the afternoon studying. When she later began working at BryMar while preparing for the remaining sections, her morning work schedule shifted to roughly 8:00 to noon, followed by studying for most of the afternoon. 

She approached those study hours almost like a second job. After work, she would take a 30-minute to one-hour lunch break, then return to Becker and work through lectures, multiple-choice questions, and task-based simulations. “I would study in the afternoons after that and basically just treat it like a full-time job,” Sarah said. Having that routine removed some of the daily decision-making from the process. Studying was simply what came next in the day. 

Over time, Sarah also figured out which methods were most effective for her. Multiple-choice questions became one of her biggest priorities because she saw them as points she did not want to leave on the table during the exam. “The multiple choice definitely helped more,” she said. “I thought of it as easy points. I can’t get those ones wrong.” When a concept was not clicking, she used Becker’s customizable practice tests to isolate that topic. She would create sets of about 10 multiple-choice questions on the same area and “run it and run it” until she was consistently getting the answers right and, more importantly, understood why they were right. 

That repetition helped turn difficult concepts into manageable pieces. Rather than continuing through new material when something was unclear, Sarah stayed with the topic until it made sense. It was a simple strategy, but it became one of the most useful parts of her preparation. 

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Pushing Through the Third-Exam Slump  

Sarah’s exam journey was successful, but it was not effortless. By the time she reached her third exam, the momentum that carried her through the first two had started to wear off. She compares the experience to running a mile: the first two laps can feel manageable, but the third is often where fatigue really sets in. 

For Sarah, that third stretch was when finding the motivation to sit down and study became especially difficult. “I wanted to give up so often,” she said, especially once she was two exams into the process. Her mindset became very practical: if she committed to doing the work correctly now, she would never have to go through the process again. “If I do this right and I do this well, I never have to do it again,” became the thought that kept her moving. She also had another goal pushing her forward. She wanted to begin working full time at BryMar in the summer, which meant staying on schedule and continuing to pass each exam. 

Even with that motivation, there were days when a perfectly structured study plan was not realistic. Sarah found small ways to keep moving anyway. Sometimes she would put on a television show she enjoyed and use the commercial breaks as short study sessions. It was not her standard routine, but on the days when motivation was low, finding any way to make progress helped her stay connected to the goal. Her approach was less about studying perfectly and more about refusing to lose momentum altogether. 

Between exams, she allowed herself time to reset. Sarah typically took one or two weeks off after sitting for an exam before beginning the next section. The breaks were long enough to give her brain a chance to recover, but short enough that she never completely lost momentum. Then she started again. 

One Day at a Time, One Exam at a Time  

One of the biggest lessons Sarah took from the process was learning not to mentally carry all four exams at once. Thinking about the entire CPA journey could become overwhelming, so she focused only on the section directly in front of her. If she was studying FAR, then FAR was the only exam that mattered that day. 

Her advice to future CPA candidates reflects that experience: take the process one chunk at a time. “If you’re working on FAR, work on FAR,” Sarah said. “Don’t try to overwhelm yourself by thinking about everything you have to do.” She believes the period immediately after college can be an especially good time to sit for the exams because recent graduates are already accustomed to studying, deadlines, and the rhythm of academic work. At the same time, she cautions against rushing just for the sake of finishing quickly. Her philosophy was to move with purpose, prepare thoroughly, and do it right the first time. 

She also believes there should be something enjoyable waiting on the other side of each exam. After her final exam, Sarah took a weekend trip to Santa Rosa. She encourages candidates to give themselves some type of reward after each milestone, whether that means a trip, a favorite meal, ice cream, or simply something small to look forward to. Celebrating the individual wins helped make a long process feel more manageable. 

Two Scores, One Huge Relief  

The finish was especially memorable because Sarah received the results for her final two sections on the same day. She already knew she had passed the first two exams, but until that score release, she did not know whether she had officially completed the entire process. 

When both passing scores came through, the biggest emotion was relief. “I never have to do this again,” Sarah remembers thinking. Months of planning her days around study sessions, working through practice questions, pushing through the third-exam slump, and thinking constantly about the next test were suddenly finished. 

Her celebration was fittingly bigger than a night out. After passing, Sarah and her boyfriend traveled through Europe for about two weeks, visiting Nice, Barcelona, Brighton, and London, with a day trip to Monaco becoming one of her favorite parts of the trip. After spending so much time working toward a single professional goal, the trip gave her the chance to step away, enjoy the accomplishment, and finally experience some time without another exam waiting on the calendar. 

The Advice Sarah Would Give Her Intern Self  

Looking back, Sarah says she would tell her intern self to stress less, trust her work ethic, and make time to enjoy the experience. “Have faith in yourself that you’re a hardworking person,” she said. “When you’re an intern, have fun. You’re there to meet people and see if you’re a culture fit.” 

That same perspective carried through her CPA journey. Sarah learned to stay disciplined, take the process one step at a time, and celebrate the wins along the way. Her final advice is simple: “Celebrate every exam and every victory.” 

Passing all four sections of the CPA Exam is a major milestone, and Sarah is already looking ahead. She hopes to continue growing at BryMar, work toward becoming a senior in the next few years, and deepen her experience across nonprofit audits, including technically challenging areas such as revenue recognition. 

Congratulations, Sarah, on passing all four sections of the CPA Exam!